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Further traffic growth for NATS in May

NATS saw traffic increase by 2.1% in May compared to the same period last year, with 201,567 flights handled in total.

At eleven out of the fifteen airports where NATS operates air traffic control, there was a rise in scheduled traffic movements.

Stansted saw a rise of 7.1% along with Cardiff recording a 7.0% rise, Farnborough followed suit with a 6.5% rise.

Continuing a period of comparably low delay, delays attributable to NATS during May totalled 3696 minutes. This makes last month the second lowest May total since 1996.

The leading market growth segments last month were Transatlantic Overflights which saw growth of 4.5% and Non-Transatlantic Overflights with a rise of 4.4%.

The domestic market segment experienced a decline of 6.8%.

Martin Rolfe, Managing Director Operations, NATS, said: “May inevitably saw demand increase due to the Bank Holidays and school half term holidays, which is reflected in the rise in scheduled movements at the majority of UK airports where we operate air traffic control.

“I am pleased that in line with handling this increase in traffic, we are ensuring that delays due to air traffic control are kept to a minimum, maintaining the excellent service that our customers expect of NATS.”